Apparatus for manufacturing slats

ABSTRACT

An apparatus ( 10 ) is provided for automatically cutting strip materials ( 22 ) into slats ( 20 ) for a venetian blind. The apparatus ( 10 ) has a feeding station ( 12 ), a cutting station ( 14 ), a punching station ( 16 ) and a laddering station ( 18 ). Strip materials ( 22 ) for the slats ( 20 ) are stored in a magazine ( 24 ) of the station ( 12 ) and they are fed one at a time to the cutting station ( 14 ) for cutting into slats ( 20 ) of preset length after slots ( 46 ) have been punched. The slats ( 20 ) are then fed to the laddering station ( 18 ) for assembling into blinds. A sensor ( 56,58 ) is positioned to sense remnants of the strip material ( 22 ) and the remnants are automatically moved back to the feeding station ( 12 ) where they are lifted off the feeding path for ejection by a following strip ( 12 ).

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

THIS INVENTION relates to an apparatus for manufacturing slats and inparticular but not limited to an apparatus for manufacturing venetianblinds automatically.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Prior apparatuses for manufacturing slats for venetian blinds involvetwo discrete stages. One stage is for cutting slats to length and thenthe cut slates are manually positioned in the other stage for punchingslots in each said cut slats and laddering the punched slats.

Both stages of the prior art require proper setting for slats ofparticular blinds. In general the cutting stage requires setting acutter to a position for cutting the slats to a desired length and thepunching operation requires fixing punches for punching desired slotshape and setting the punches for punching in desired positions in theslats. As up to five punches may be involved in the punching operationthe time for setting are relatively long.

The existing apparatuses are not flexible as they can only be used tomanufacture slats selected from two different widths.

As two stages are involved, storage of cut or punched slats is requireddepending on whether the cutting or punching operation is carried outfirst.

These apparatuses cannot be fully automated as the cutting stagerequires manual positioning of strip materials for cutting.

The existing apparatuses are therefore highly labour intensive and theslats are costly to manufacture. For timber slats, the existingapparatuses do not give a clean cut and chippings occur at ends of thecut slats.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to alleviate or to reduce to acertain degree one or more of the prior art disadvantages.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one aspect therefor the present invention resides in an apparatus formanufacturing slats. The apparatus comprises a strip material feedingstation and a cutting station positioned downstream of the feedingstation. The feeding station is adapted to feed a strip material intothe cutting station for cutting into one or more slats of a presetlength, and includes means for ejecting the strip material when thelength of the strip material or remnant of the cut strip material isshorter than said preset length.

The ejection means may be arranged to eject the strip material or theremnant at the feeding station or downstream thereof.

Preferably the feeding station includes a receiving section forreceiving the strip material to be cut and controllable drive meansarranged for feeding the strip material into the cutting station. Morepreferably the drive means is positioned adjacent to the cuttingstation.

Desirably the drive means is reversible and the strip material forejection or the remnant is driven back to the receiving section forejection.

Preferably the apparatus has a collection section for collecting any ofthe ejected strip material and the remnants.

The feeding station may also include a magazine section in which aplurality of strip materials are stored and an inserting means forinserting one of the strip materials in the magazine section.

The magazine section desirably includes a guide arrangement for guidingthe strip materials in said magazine section. Advantageously the guidearrangement is adjustable for different width of the strip material.

The ejection means may include a sensing device arrange to produce anejection signal when the strip material or remnant is shorter than thepreset length. Typically said sensing means is an optical detectorarranged so that it receives an optical signal when the strip materialor the remnant is shorter than said preset length.

Preferably the cutting stations include a cutting device positioned inclose proximity to the feeding station and in particular to the drivemeans. This positioning allows a maximum number of slats to be cut fromthe strip material and remnant size is reduced to a minium.

In preference a vibration damping arrangement is provided for reducingchippings when cutting.

Desirably the cutting device has a saw blade and an anvil for the blade,and the damping arrangement includes employing a vibration dampingmaterial for certain parts close to the saw blade and contactable withthe strip material during cutting. Said parts typically include asupport for supporting the strip material, a clamp for clamping thestrip material and the anvil.

The apparatus may have a punching station arranged downstream of thecutting station. The punching station includes a punch head having atleast one punch controllably movable for punching apertures in the stripmaterial.

The punch head preferably having a plurality of different punchesselectable for a punching operation.

Typically the punch head has an elongate punch fixing member to whichthe punches are spacedly fixed and the fixing member is movable toselect one of the punches for the punching operation.

The punching station is advantageously provided with a punch selectionarrangement having a movable selection member with markings indicatingpositions for the punches and the selection member is connected to thepunch head so that a punch can be selected by simply moving theselection member to the corresponding marking.

The apparatus may have a shaping station positioned between the cuttingstation and the punching station. The shaping station includes a shapingdevice arranged for shaping cut ends of the strip material.

The shaping device can be arranged to shape adjacent ends of twoseparate slats simultaneously or in sequence.

The shaping device may be selectable from devices for different shapes.

The shaping device can be arranged to follow a contoured path to productshapes including radiused corners to said ends, and/or bevelled edges.

The apparatus may include one or more laddering stations positioned forreceiving the cut and punched slats.

Each said laddering stations may have relatively adjustable side membersfor selectively setting slat width.

The laddering stations may also have a mechanism for alternating theamplitude of movement of a string oscillating device as the widthsetting is change. The string oscillating device provides a zig-zagshaped ladder for the slats. The mechanism may comprise a taperedelement acting as a stop for either direction of movement to limit thetravel according to that required for each width.

The apparatus may have a controller for controlling operations of any ofthe stations.

The controller may be set for controlling the drive means to feed thestrip material a preset length from a plurality of settable lengths. Itmay also be set to control the slot positions.

The controller settings may be preprogrammed and can then be selected tosimply selecting the program for the settings. The programs arepreferably bar coded and a bar code reader is used to select the desiredprogram.

The controller may also be set to produce a fixed member of slats.

The controller may also be set to control one or more of the operations.

The strip material may be wood, plastic, metal including aluminium.

Strip materials with widths from 10 to 100 mm can be accommodated by theapparatus.

In order that the present invention can be more readily understood andbe put into practical effect the description will now be described withreference to the accompanying drawings which illustrate non-limitingembodiments of the present invention, and wherein:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a plan view of the apparatus formanufacturing wood venetian blinds according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an end cross-section view at A—A of the apparatus shown inFIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an end cross-section view along B—B of the apparatus shown inFIG. 1;

FIGS. 5A to 5D are schematic diagrams showing operational steps of theapparatus of FIG. 1 from feeding a strip of wood for cutting to slatlengths to positioning a cut and punched slat for laddering;

FIGS. 6A to 6D are schematic diagrams showing stages in a remnantejection process of the apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing a partial cross sectional sideview of the cutting station of the apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing a partial cross sectional end viewof the cutting station of the apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing a partial perspective view of thepunching station of the apparatus of FIG. 1; and

FIGS. 10A to 10C are schematic diagrams showing steps in a shapingstation for the apparatus of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring initially to FIG. 1 there is shown a plan schematic view ofthe apparatus 10 for manufacturing timber venetian blinds according tothe present invention.

The apparatus 10 as shown comprises a feeding station 12, a sawingstation 14, a punching station 16 and a laddering station 18 where slats20 cut from timber strips 22 are assembled into a venetian blind.

The feeding station 12 has a magazine section 24 which is shown moreclearly in FIGS. 3 and 4. As can be seen a stack of timber strips 22 forcutting into the slats 28 of preset lengths is stored in the section 24.

The section 24 has a number (three in this embodiment) of paired arms26, 28. The arms 28 are linked and are adjustably movable in unisonrelative to the arms 26 for accommodating timber strips 22 of variouswidths in the magazine section 24. Typically the space between the arms26 and 28 can be adjusted to accommodate strips 22 with 10 to 100 mmwidth.

The feeding station 12 has a base or track 30 adjacent to one side ofwhich the magazine section 24 is positioned. Each of the arms 26 isspaced from the base or track 30 by a plate 32 which is fixed to a block34 arranged on the base or track 30. As shown in FIG. 3 this arrangementprovides a gap under each arm 26 for receiving a timber strip 22 fedfrom the bottom of the stack in the magazine 24. The block 23 and theplate 32 cooperate to confine the strip 22 within the gaps.

Returning to FIG. 1, a controllably moveable element (not shown) isemployed to push the bottom strip 22 in the magazine section 24 in thegap when the apparatus 10 is in operation.

A pair of driving rollers 40, 42 are located in close proximity to thesawing station 14 for maximising the number of slats 20 that can be cutfrom the timber strips 22. The roller 42 is in this case is a feedroller.

As shown in FIG. 4 the roller 40 is controllably movable in a certaindirection. The roller 40 is controlled to move away from the roller 22when a timber strip is to be delivered in to the gaps.

When the timber strip 22 within the gaps are to be fed for a subsequentoperation the roller 40 is controlled to move towards the roller 42 andthe roller 40 is then driven to feed the timber strip 22 towards thesawing station 14 (See FIG. 2).

In this embodiment the roller 40 is a rotary encoder serving as ameasuring device for providing feedback signals to a controller whichcontrols operations of the apparatus 10. By using the feedback signalsthe controller can accurately position the strip 22 for sawing the strip22 into preset lengths and punching slots.

FIG. 5A shows that the strip 22 is driven by the rollers 40, 42 a smalldistance past a saw 44 in the sawing station 14 for trimming one endthereof. The saw 44 is controlled to reciprocate in the direction shownby the double ended arrow for sawing and retracting from the strip 22.

The trimmed end piece then drops in the collection bin (not shown) asillustrated in FIG. 5. The strip 22 is again fed into positions (2 inthis embodiment) for punching slots 46 by a selected one of the punches48, 50, 52 fixed to a punch head 47 which is controllably movablebetween an up position for allowing the strip 22 to more through thepunching station 16 and a down position for punching a slot 46.

The punch head 47 is adjustably movable to position one of the punches48, 50, 52 for the punching operation. An indexed shaft is used to morethe head 47 and is colour coded for the positions of the punch heads sothat a user simply moves to lock the shaft into the colour coded indexfor the punch (48, 50 or 52) to the used.

After the second slot 46 is punched the strip 2 is controlled to move toa position as shown in FIG. 5C to be sewn into a slat 20 of the presetlength.

The strip 22 is fed to positions for the operations as shown in FIGS. 5Ato 5C except for the initial end trimming operation. At the same timethe slat 20 previously cut is pushed by the strip 20 in between rungs ofa pair of ladders 54 of the blind to be assembled in the ladderingstation 18.

As strips 22 are not usually of equal length and the cut slats 20 arenot usually multiples of the strips 22 there are remnants having alength shorter than the slat length. These remnants must be cleared fromthe feeding path of the strips 22 if full automation of venetian blindmanufacturing is to be realised.

FIGS. 6A to 6D show an example of how the remnants are ejected from thefeeding path. Turning to FIG. 6A there is shown a sensor means having alight emitting device 56 and a light receiving detector 58 positioned onopposite sides of the strip 22 when placed in the gaps. The detector 58is arranged to produce an output signal when it detects the light fromthe device 56.

In operation when the far end of the strip 22 moves past the device 56as shown in FIG. 6A the strip 22 is now shorter than the length of theslats 20 and the detector 58 sends a signal to the controller to beginan ejection operation.

If any part of the strip 22 is under the plate 32 close to the roller 40the roller 42 is controlled to feed the strip 22 forward to clear theplate 32.

When the far end of the strip 22 is positioned past the block 32 asshown in FIG. 6B, lifting elements 36 and 38 are operated to lift thestrip 22 and the feed roller 42 is controlled to reverse the feeddirection. The strip 22 now rests on the plate 32 waiting for afollowing strip 22 from the magazine section 24 to move in a directiontoward the gap. At the same time the strip 22 is lifted to rest on theplate 32 as shown in FIG. 6D.

FIGS. 7 and 8 show in some detail the arrangement of the saw 44 and itsanvil 60 at the saw station 14. The strip 22 to be cut is clamped by apair of clamps 62,64 arranged on opposite sides of the saw 44. Both theanvil 60 and the clamps 62,64 are made of vibration damping materialincluding rubber compound. This reduces vibration when the strip 22 isbeing sawn. The damping material also reduces noise.

FIG. 9 shows in detail the punch head 47 and the punches 48, 50, 52described earlier with reference to FIGS. 5A to 5D.

The head 47 has a cross arm 66 and the two side arms 68,70. All of thepunches 48 to 52 are fixed on the cross arm 66. Each said side arms68,70 have an aperture movably positionable along rods 72, 74. The rods72,74 are fixed to a beam 76 having slots 78,80,82 shaped to receive thepunches 48 to 52.

FIGS. 10A to 10C show arrangement of a shaping station that can bepositioned between the cutting station 14 and the punching station 16.

Referring to FIG. 10A, after sawing through the strip 22 the roller 42is reversed to an extent to allow a shaping tool to controllably movablebetween adjacent ends of the slat 20 and the strip 22. The shaping tool78 is adapted to round corners at the ends of the strip 22 and the slot.The shaping may also be arranged to bevel the top and bottom of theends. Whereby the ends of the slats 20 can be contoured to apredetermined shape.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus for manufacturing slats of blindscomprising a feeding station for feeding a strip stock material with astock length, a cutting station positioned downstream of the feedingstation, the feeding station being adapted to feed the strip stockmaterial downstream into the cutting station for cutting into one ormore slats of a preset length, and a punching station positioneddownstream of the cutting station for punching one or more apertures insaid one or more slats; and the feeding station including means forejecting from the feeding station the strip stock material when thestock length of the strip material or a length of a remnant of the cutstrip stock material is shorter than said preset length.
 2. Theapparatus according to claim 1 wherein the feeding station includes areceiving section for receiving the strip stock material to be cut andcontrollable drive means arranged for feeding the strip stock materialdownstream into the cutting station when the stock length is the same asor greater than the preset length.
 3. The apparatus according to claim 2wherein the drive means is positioned adjacent to the cutting station.4. The apparatus according to claim 2 wherein the drive means isreversible and is controlled to drive the strip stock material forejection or the remnant upstream into the receiving section forejection.
 5. The apparatus according to claim 2 wherein the feedingstation includes a magazine section in which a plurality of strip stockmaterials are stored and an inserting means for controllably insertinginto said receiving section one of the plurality of strip stockmaterials in the magazine section as said strip stock material.
 6. Theapparatus according to claim 5 wherein the feeding station includes anadjustable guide arrangement for guiding the plurality of stripmaterials in said magazine section and the guide arrangement is adaptedto be adjustable for different widths of the strip stock materials. 7.The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the apparatus has acollection section for collecting any of the ejected strip stockmaterial and the remnants.
 8. The apparatus according to claim 1 whereinthe ejection means includes a sensing device arranged to produce anejection signal when the strip stock material or remnant is shorter thanthe preset length.
 9. The apparatus according to claim 8 wherein saidsensing device is an optical detector arranged so that it receives anoptical signal when the strip stock material or the remnant is shorterthan said preset length.
 10. The apparatus according to claim 1 whereinthe cutting station includes a cutting device positioned proximate tothe feeding station so that a maximum number of slats with the presetlength can be cut from the strip stock material.
 11. The apparatusaccording to claim 1 wherein a vibration damping arrangement is providedfor reducing vibrations when cutting.
 12. The apparatus according toclaim 1 wherein the punching station has a punch head with at least onepunch controllably movable for punching apertures in the strip stockmaterial.
 13. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the apparatusfurther comprises a shaping station positioned between the cuttingstation and the punching station and having a shaping device arrangedfor shaping one or more cut ends of the strip stock material.
 14. Theapparatus according to claim 13 wherein the shaping device is arrangedto follow a contoured path to produce shapes including radiused cornersand/or beveled edges to said one or more cut ends.
 15. The apparatusaccording to claim 1 wherein the apparatus includes one or moreladdering stations positioned for receiving the cut and punched slats.16. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the apparatus has acontroller for controlling operations of any of the stations.
 17. Theapparatus according to claim 16 wherein the controller is adjustable forsetting the preset length, and is arranged for controlling drive meansto feed the strip stock material to a distance equalling the presetlength.